USA Tour

History

Main article:History of the United States

Native Americans and European settlers

See also:Native Americans in the United States, European colonization of the Americans and Thirteen Colonies.

The indigenous people of the U.S. mainland, including Alaska Natives, are most commonly believed to have migrated from Asia. They began arriving at least 12,000 and as many as 40,000 years ago. Some, such as the pre-Columbian, Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. After Europeans began settling the Americas, many millions of indigeous Americans died from epidemics of imported diseases such as smallpox.

Transportation

Main article:Transportation in he United States

The Interstate Highway System,which extends 46,876 miles (75,440 km)

Everyday personal transportation in America is dominated by the automobile. As of 2003, there were 759 automobiles per 1,000 Americans, compared to 472 per 1,000 inhabitants of the European Union the following year. About 40% of personal vehicles are vans,SUVs, or light trucks. The average American adult (accounting for all drivers and nondrivers) spends 55 minutes driving every day, traveling 29 miles (47 km).The civil airline industry is entirely privatized, while most major airports are publicly owned. The four largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are American;Southwest Airlines is number one. Of the world's thirty busiest passenger airports, sixteen are in the United States, including the busiest.

Economy

Main article:Economy of the United States

Economic indicators
Unemployment	0.2%Oct. 2009
GDP growth	−0.7%2Q 2009 [0.4%2008]
CPI inflation	−1.5%August 2008–August 2009
Public debt	$12.113 trillionNovember 30, 2009
Poverty	13.2%2008

The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled by abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. According to the International Monytary Fund, the U.S. GDP of $14.4 trillion constitutes 23% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and almost 21% of the gross world product at purchasing power parity (PPP). The largest national GDP in the world, it was about 5% less than the combined GDP of the European Union PPP in 2008. The country ranks seventeenth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and sixth in GDP per capita at PPP. The United States is the largest importer of goods and third largest exporter, though exports per capita are relatively low. Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners. In 2007, vehicles constituted both the leading import and leading export commodity. China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. public debt.

Science and technology

Main article:Science and technology in the United States

See also:Technological and industrial history of the United States

Astronaut during the first human Buzz Aldrinlanding on theMoon,1969.

The United States has been a leader in scientific research and technological innovation since the late 19th century. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone.Thomas Edison's laboratory developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb and the first viable movie camera.Nikola Tesla pioneered alternating current, the AC motor, and radio. In the early 20th century, the automobile companies of Ransom E.Olds and Henry Ford promoted the assembly line.TheWright brothers, in 1903, made the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight.

temporary era

The World Trade Center the morning of

September 11,2001.Under President Gorge H.W. Bush, the United States took a lead role in the UN–sanctioned Gulf War . The longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history—from March 1991 to March 2001—encompassed the Bill Clinton administration and the dot-com bubble. Acivil law civil lawsuit and sex scandal led to clinto,s impeachment in 1998, but he remained in office. The ti2000presidential elecon, of the closest in American history, was resolved by a U.S.Supreme court decision-George W.Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president.

Parties, ideology.

Main articles:Politics of the United States and political ideologies in the United States

Barak Obama taking the presidential oath office U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, January20, 2009

The United States has operated under a two-party system  for most of its history. For elective offices at all levels, state-administered primary electrons  choose the major party nominees for subsequent general electrons . Since the general election of 1856, the major parties have been theDemocrratic party, founded in 1824, and the Republican Party, founded in 1854. Since the Civil War, only one third-party  presidential candidate—former president Theodore Roosevelt,running as a Progressive in 1912 has won as much as 20% of the popular vote.

Foreign relations

Main articles:Foreign policy of the United States and United States armed forces 

 Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom and President Obama.

The United States exercises global economic, political, and military influence. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security concil  and New York City hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates  around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Cuba, Iran , North Korea, Bhutan, Sudan,  and the Republic of China (Taiwan) do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States.The United States enjoys strong ties with the United Kingdom, Canada,  Australia, New Zealand, Japan,  ,South Korea, Israel,  and fellow NATO members. It also works closely with its neighbors through the Orgamization of American States and  free trade agreements such as the trilateral  North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. In 2008, the United States spent a net $25.4 billion on offical development assistance, the most in the world.

Demographics

Main article:Demographics of the United States

See also: Immigration to the United States 

Largest ancestry groups by county, 2000

The United States population is projected by the U.S. Census Bureau to be 308,154,000, an estimated 11.2 million illegal immigrants. The United States is the third most populous nation in the world, after China and India. Its population growth  rate is 0.98%, to the European Union's 0.11%. The birth rate of 13.82 per 1,000, 30% below the world average, is higher than any European country's except Albania and Ireland . have been in the top four sending countries every year.The United States has a very diverse population—thirty-one ancestry groups  have more than a million members. White Americans are the largest racial group; German Amaricans, Irish Americans, and English Americans constitute three of the country's four largest ancestry groups.African Americans are the nation's largest racial minority and third largest ancestry group.

Race/Ethnicity (2008)
White	79.8%
African American	12.8%
Asian American	4.5%
Native American and Alaska   Native	1.0%
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander	0.2%
Multiracial	1.7%
Hispanic (of any race)	15.4

About 82% of Americans live in urban areas (as defined by the Census Bureau, such areas include the suburbs ); half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000. In 2008, 273 incorporated places had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than 1 million residents, and four global cities had over 2 million (New York City , Los Angeles, Chicago,and Houston ). are fifty-two metropolitan areas  with populations greater than 1 million.

Leading population centers
Rank	Core city	State	Pop.	Metro area rank	Metro area pop.	Region	New York City Los Angeles
1	New York	New York	8,363,710	1	19,006,798	Northeast
2	Los Angeles	California	3,833,995	2	12,872,808	West
3	Chicago	Illinois	2,853,114	3	9,569,624	Midwest
4	Houston	Texas	2,242,193	6	5,728,143	South
5	Phoenix	Arizona	1,567,924	12	4,281,899	West
6	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	1,447,395	5	5,838,471	Northeast
7	San Antonio	Texas	1,351,305	28	2,031,445	South
8	Dallas	Texas	1,279,910	4	6,300,006	South
9	San Diego	California	1,279,329	17	3,001,072	West
10	San Jose	California	948,279	31	1,819,198	West
2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates

Language

Main article: Languages of the United States 

See also:Language Spoken at Home English

Languages (2006)
English (only)	224.2 million
Spanish, incl.	34.0 million
Creole	2.5 million
French incl.	2.0 million
Tagaloe	1.4 million
Vietnamese	1.2 million
German	1.1 million
Korean	1.1 million

 is the national language.Although there is no official lnguage at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirmentsstandardize English. In 2006, about 224 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home.Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language. Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law. While neither has an official language,New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.

Religion

Main article: Religion in the United States

See also:History of relagion in the United States,Freedom of relagion in the United States,Separation of  chuech and state in the United States and List of relagion movements that began in the United States.

A Presbyterian church; most Americans identify as Christian.

The United States is officially a secular nation; the Frist Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and forbids the establishment of any religious governance. In a 2002 study, 59% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives," a far higher figure than that of any other wealthy nation. According to a 2007 survey, 78.4% of adults identified themselves as Christian, down from 86.4% in 1990.Protestant denominations accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism at 23.9%, was the largest individual denomination. The study categorizes white evangelicals,26.3% of the population, as the country's largest religious cohort; another study estimates evangelicals of all races at 30–35%. The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2007 was 4.7%, up from 3.3% in 1990. The leading non-Christian faiths were Judaism (1.7%),Buddhism (0.7%),Islam(0.6%),Hinduism(0.4%), and  Unitarian Universalism(0.3%). From 8.2% in 1990, 16.1% in 2007 described themselves as agnostic,atheist or simply having no religion.

Education

Main article:Education in the United States

See also:Educationnal attainment in the United Steates and Higher education in The United States.l

Some 80% of U.S. college students attend public university such as the    University of Virgina a World Heritage Site founded by Thomas Jefferson.

American public education is operated by state and local governments, regulated by theUnited States Deparment of Education  through restrictions on federal grants. Children are required in most states to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally,kingdergarten or frist grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school; some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen. About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectraian private schools.Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.The United States has many competitive private and public institution of higher education, as well as local    community colleges with open admission policies. Of Americans twenty-five and older, 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned a bachelor's degree,and 9.6% earned graduate degrees. The basic literacy rate is approximately 99%. The United Nations assigns the United States an Education Index of 0.97, tying it for 12th in the world.

Health

See also:Health care in the United States,Health care reformin the United States and Health insurancein the United States

The United States life expectancy of 77.8 years at birth is a year shorter than the overall figure in Western Europe, and three to four years lower than that of Norway, Switzerland, and Canada. Over the past two decades, the country's rank in life expectancy has dropped from 11th to 42nd in the world.infant mortality rate  of 6.37 per thousand likewise places the United States 42nd out of 221 countries, behind all of Western Europe. U.S. cancer survival rates are the highest in the world. Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight; the obesity rate, the highest in the industrialized world, has more than doubled in the last quarter-century. Obesity-related type to diabetes is considered epidemic by health care professionals. The U.S. adolescent pregnancy rate, 79.8 per 1,000 women, is nearly four times that of France and five times that of Germany. Abortion, legal on demand, is highly controversial. The U.S. health care system far  outspends any other nation's, measured in both per capita spending and percentage of GDP. The  World Health Organization ranked the U.S. health care system in 2000 as first in responsiveness, but 37th in overall performance. The United States is a leader in medical innovation. In 2004, the nonindustrial sector spent three times as much as Europe per capita on biomedical research.

Crime protection

Main articles:Policing in the United States and Crime in the United States
 

See also:Law of the United States, Incarceation in the United States,and Capital punishment in the United States. 
 

Law enforcement in the United States is primarily the responsibility of local police and sheriff's  departments, with state police providing broader services. Federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have specialized duties. At the federal level and in almost every state, jurisprudence operates on a common law system. State courts conduct most criminal trials;federal courts  handle certain designated crimes as well as appeals from state systems.

Culture

Main articles:Culture of the United States and Socity of the United States.

See also:Social class in the United States.The United States is a multicultural nation, home to a wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values. Aside from the now small Native American and Native Hawaiian populations, nearly all Americans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries. The culture held in common by most Americans—mainstream American culture—is a  Western culture largely derived from the tradition of European immigrations with influences from many other sources, such as traditions brought by slaves from Africa.

According to Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions analysis, the United States has the highest  individualism score of any country studied. While the mainstream culture holds that the United States is a classless society,scholars identify significant differences between the country's social classes, affecting so cialization,language, and values.Women now mostly work outside the home and receive a majority of bachelor's degree. In 2007, 58% of Americans age 18 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 25% had never been married.Same-sex marriage is contentious. Some states permit civil unions in lieu of marriage. Since 2003,several states have permitted gay marriage as the result of judicial or legislative action, while voters in more than a dozen states have barred the practice via referendum.

Popular media

Main articles:Cinema of the United States,Televsion in the United States and Music of the United States.The world's first commercial motion picture exhibition was given in New York City in 1894, using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope.The next year saw the first commercial screening of a projected film, also in New York, and the United States was in the forefront of sound film's development in the following decades. Since the early 20th century, the U.S. film industry has largely been based in and around Hollywood, California.Director D.W.Griffith  was central to the development of film grammar and Orson Welle's Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited as the greatest film of all time. American screen actors like Jhon Wayne and Marilyne Monroe have become iconic figures, while producer/entrepreneur Walt Disney was a leader in both animated film and movie merchandising. The major film studios of Hollywood have produced the most commercially successful movies in history, such as Star Wars (1977) and Titanic(1997), and the products of Hollywood today dominate the global film industry.

See also

United States portals

•  Outline of the United States
  
• Index of United States-related artical